Garry started working on a complete overhaul of the building system last week, and I'd hoped to have some nice examples of what you lot made with it over the weekend, but it's a bit too early for that (though Rustafied was on the spot with some analysis, as always). If you haven't yet tried out the tools, you need to opt in to the development branch: right-click on Rust in Steam, select Properties and click on the Betas tab. From the drop-down menu you can opt-in to 'development updates'. This will allow you to join the dev servers, which will greatly reduce the number of people you are playing with and greatly increase the chance you'll lose your stuff. The cutting edge is super sharp.

Though the dev servers aren't yet awash with incredible architecture, I did discover that creativity first comes in the form of raiding solutions. The current building system has a cupboard at the heart of it: you place it in your house and it claims land within a certain perimeter. The 'no build' bubble that extends out and up from there, but only so far. Running across the lands, I noticed that almost every base was in the shadow of a stepped raiding platform. Like this:

We have a few solutions against that sort of building planned, but it got me thinking: What's the most important factors when it comes to your homes? Do you generally build for security, or do you build what you want and to hell with the raiders?

Or do you build giant Marios on the landscape, like DarkHouse did for the header image?

He wouldn't have to go far: I think Rust's setting lends itself to castle builders, who have rolling planes and mountain peaks to take advantage of. That's what Grayfade did: during a bout of illness, and with only Rust to keep him from turning into a grim, sweaty pile of meat and snot, he got all castley.

As is so often the case, boredom led to building which led to turrets: "I was sick over the past weekend so I had some time off of work, and subsequently a lot of time on my hands. I don't remember why I ended up choosing to play Rust, but I quickly got over the whole PvP and raiding thing and pretty much just built crap for a total of... like, four days. I spent 40+ hours hammering structures like a caveman. I started out just trying to make a little enclosed area and some stuff inside, but then I found this one hill. I walked up to this charming little mound, and as I was standing at the top looking over the nearby river and forest, I was just like, 'Yup.' So, here's the result of my boredom. The server I play on is probably getting wiped soon so this'll all be gone in a while. Here's what I made."

I love the 'lived in' feeling of Grayfade's creation. It looks communal and homely. Xajar's castle build-- a 31 x 31 foundation castle that took down several forests in the making-- is a more formal creation. His 'epic build' feels like a show home for a potential client: it's clean and well made, though. And it's way better than the 1 by 1 shacks that typify my creations.

I think the choice of where you build has an effect: the beach here is flat and featureless; the grass poking up through the foundations of Grayfade's fever dream makes it a bit more appealing. He also mixed up a lot of building materials. Can you imagine what the two would be able to build together? A big, big build, but crammed with detail?

The Laws of Rust state this: "Each and every server will have at least three pyramids, be they upright or inverted. They shall be used by players for orientation, and their builders shall remain mysterious." Well, I'm breaking that law (because I just made it up) and making it clear that the maker of this pyramid is forum user eyraser, who made this.

There is always a pyramid on a Rust server, sitting on the landscape like a tea cosy, but I was impressed with the internal structure of eyrasers' work. It's another build that feels like the people who live there have been told to keep away as a photographer documents where they live and work. I can imagine them all flooding back in the moment the screenshots are taken.

After that 'Castle Call' pun, I don't see how you couldn't be. Anyway, this should get you. I made pals with Wessink, the builder of a tower so voluminous that I ran across an entire server to see it. I made him promise to nudge me on Steam whenever he got the itch to build something silly, and I wasn't disappointed. He created a Gladiator arena on the server he called home, and if people were unaware of what its purpose was, crafted giant signs surrounding it.

I think we need to get him to present his top ten building tips at some point. #1: Chop down a lot of trees...

Got a song, a suggestion, or anything you want to say about Rust? I particularly want to know what sort of buildings you make, and if you build them to be safe or if you don't compromise their looks for anyone.